A Fresh Start
by ANGSWIN
Summary: Head Girl Hermione Granger finds herself looking forward to her last year at Hogwarts in more ways than one.


Written to serve double duty for the  
**February 2019 Roll-A-Drabble**  
1st Roll: Pairing: Hermione/Neville  
2nd Roll: Trope: House Resorting  
and the **2019 Hermione's Haven Bingo**  
Square: B5 - Pairing Prompt: Hermione/Neville

* * *

**A Fresh Start**

Newly appointed Head Girl Hermione Granger sat at what was formerly known as the Gryffindor table. She watched the expressions of shock ripple across the faces of her fellow schoolmates at Headmistress McGonagall's words during the welcoming speech of what would be Hermione's final year at Hogwarts. The speech had basically boiled down to the fact that the House stereotypes and hostilities had increased to such dangerous levels in the previous years, that it was obvious they fed directly into the events leading to the deadly Battle of Hogwarts that had occurred on the grounds just a few months earlier.

Therefore, Hogwarts was finally going to address the situation. The centuries-old tradition of sorting children into the four Houses modeled after the Founders had come to an end. Instead, all of the first year students would live in a common dorm and attend classes together. They would collectively be known as the Hippogriff House. The arrangement would allow all of the new students to become acquainted with each other and the unfamiliar environment at Hogwarts…while they hopefully formed friendships without any preconceived notions…before they split into their "forever" Houses during their second year.

That, however, was not the news that caused such surprise among the student body. In fact, nobody seemed to be able to find fault with that idea, at all. No, the shockwave that coursed through the Great Hall did not come until the Headmistress announced that all other year groups, up to and including the "Eighth Years" (those students who were not able to complete their education for whatever reason during the troubles of the previous year or for anyone who felt the need to repeat their NEWT year) would also be resorted into the newly created Wand Houses in order to give everyone a fresh start with their education…and each other.

The idea was that if the students had a wand that had personally selected them, then they would go to the respective House that represented their wand cores: Dragon, Unicorn, or Phoenix. Arrangements were also made if a student used a family wand, the way that Ron and Neville used to…or a wand with another core from another maker, such as Gregorovitch. In that case, Ollivander, the British wand expert who had recently reopened his shop, would be on hand with a selection of wands that the student could try out - solely for testing and resorting purposes - in order to see what suited them best. This completely objective way of resorting made a lot of sense - especially since everyone knew that wand cores (along with the wood combinations) were drawn to the specific personality and potential abilities of the wand wielder.

…

Hermione herself was not shocked by the resorting announcement for the simple reason that Headmistress McGonagall had called a meeting with her new Head Girl and Boy earlier during the summer holidays in order to tell them of the planned changes and to ask their opinions about the matter. Hermione had thought that it was a wonderful idea and truly wished that it had been implemented much earlier on during her school career.

Maybe if the Gryffindors and Slytherins, in particular, had not had such a long history of feuding, things might have gone a bit differently in the end. With a few obvious exceptions, she had often wished to get to know some of the former Slytherins better, but the old system of House loyalties really discouraged that. Even the members of the Serpent house who did not think of her as just a "Mudblood" or automatically despised her for being Harry's friend would have faced retaliation from those who did, like Draco and his goons, if they tried to associate with her outside of class. Therefore, the friendships that she possibly could have had with fellow serious scholars such as Theo Nott or Tracey Davis, both of whom she had worked well with in Arithmancy, never had a chance to even really form – much less to flourish.

In fact, Hermione honestly thought that resorting was the only way that Hogwarts could move forward at the current point in time – especially since the Slytherin House had been decimated. That particular House would have otherwise been almost empty of upperclassmen, quite of few of whom had transferred after so many of their peers had died in the fighting or had been sent to Azkaban for their involvement with the Death Eaters. Draco Malfoy was one of the latter category, even though he had been given a reduced sentence due to his age and probable coercion. His father, however, had not been so lucky this time around since he had received a life sentence for not learning his lesson the first time.

…

In truth, the only thing that had really surprised Hermione at that early meeting with the Headmistress was the choice of Head Boy. Her mouth had actually dropped open when she saw none other than Neville Longbottom step out of the floo and into McGonagall's office. Even though she had always counted him among her closest friends, he was not really known for his academic achievements. However, she also knew that having the highest marks was not the most important characteristic of a good Head. What the position _really_ required was a good heart and a sincere desire to be a good example for and a help to _any_ of the students who needed it. When Hermione stopped to think about it, she realized that Neville was probably even more qualified in that aspect than she was – especially since she had heard from Ginny about everything that he had done to keep the student body as safe as he possibly could during the last year with the Carrows. That included the punishments and torture that he had suffered through because of his protective actions.

The knowledge just made Hermione's admiration for her old friend even stronger. In fact, even before the shock of seeing him there wore off, she sprang out of her chair and hugged the young man whom she had not seen since the Battle with all of her might - while the Headmistress just looked on approvingly. When the two young people finally pulled apart, the pink on both of their cheeks even suggested that the close contact might have raised some interesting thoughts in their minds. They were thoughts that Hermione especially had never had time to consider before...and she suddenly found herself eagerly looking forward to the new school year for more reasons than before.

…

With the memory of that meeting in her mind, Hermione ignored the surprised mutterings of those around her as they discussed the resorting and compared their respective wand cores with their friends. Instead, she turned to smile gently at her fellow Head who was sitting next to her. Even though the resorting meant that she would technically be part of the new Dragon House with Ginny and he would be a member of the Unicorn House with Luna, they would not be living in the dorms with their fellow "Eighth Years." The Head Students still had the privilege of living in a shared suite separate from their respective Houses.

Suddenly the idea of those private quarters seemed even more appealing than they had before when Neville smiled shyly back at her with his cute signature lopsided grin and slid a warm hand nervously into hers under the cover of the table. When the butterflies started fluttering unexpectedly in her stomach then, Hermione knew that the upcoming year was going to be a fresh start in more ways than one. She could not wait…and judging by the way Neville's grin grew even wider as his eyes met hers when she squeezed his hand gently in response…neither could he!


End file.
